In the last several years, the use of prenuptial agreements has increased significantly. According to the majority of attorneys who responded to an American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers survey, since 2013, many more couples are using prenups. There are many reasons people in North Carolina might seek one.
Being the children of divorce and fearing it themselves, many millennials are cautious about getting married in the first place. They are marrying later in life, and this means they have often accumulated assets by this point that they want to protect. These assets might include a home, a retirement account and a business startup. On the other hand, many of them are also going into marriage with substantial debt, particularly student loan debt. A prenup helps ensure that the other spouse will not be responsible for any part of that debt in the event of divorce.
While people from wealthy families may still want prenups to protect their assets, modern prenups ¬do not necessarily conform to the traditional model. Increasingly, millennials want prenups that will protect their intellectual property and businesses they created. Furthermore, while, traditionally, men were the higher wage earners, as women enter the workplace in greater numbers, and their incomes grow, they are more likely than in the past to want a prenup as well.
Couples who have a prenup may experience a quicker, less stressful divorce than those who do not have one. However, even couples without a prenup may be able to spend less money and time on the process than they fear. Instead of resorting to litigation, where a judge decides how property will be divided and who will get custody of the children, some people successfully negotiate an agreement through negotiation with the assistance of their attorneys.